Eventually, Rurin tires himself out enough to stop tormenting us, though the smugness never once leaves his face. With one final chuckle, he ambles back toward the Headmaster’s desk and drops heavily into one of the chairs before it.
“I see why you took her on, old man,” he says.
The Headmaster exhales slowly through his nose. “I’m regretting it already.”
Rurin snorts.
“At least she didn’t rope you into a fae bargain before you realized what was happenin’.”
The Headmistress coughs sharply into her teacup.
Not a normal cough, either.
The kind people make when they’ve just accidentally inhaled liquid.
Rurin stills.
Slowly, very slowly, he turns toward her.
Then toward the Headmaster.
Then back again.
She does her best to play it off, somehow making the spilled liquid disappear entirely.
But it’s too little too late.
“...No,” he says quietly.
The Headmaster rubs at his temples.
Rurin leans forward in his chair.
“No.”
The Headmistress very deliberately avoids his gaze.
“You mean to tell me,” Rurin says, voice growing dangerously delighted, “that she got you before she got me?”
Nobody answers.
Which is answer enough.
For one terrible moment, the room falls completely silent.
Then Rurin erupts.
“Hah! Hahaha!”
The booming laugh crashes through the office hard enough that even the arcanite lamps tremble faintly.
“By the ancients, Kophis, you actually got outplayed by a baby-faced fae before I did!”
I scowl at him, but he’s too enamored by the revelation to notice.
The Headmaster closes his eyes like a man enduring physical pain.
“I’m never going to hear the end of this,” Elyr mutters in immediate resignation.
The Headmistress chuckles quietly.
“Lookit, Elly!” Rurin bellows, slamming a hand onto the desk hard enough to rattle the tea set. “The old goat finally got got!”
Elyr looks moments away from committing a murder, her glare aimed at her father.
The Headmaster sighs deeply, clearly deciding that salvaging the conversation is impossible.
“Arabella, Emilia, Cari—you are dismissed,” he says tiredly.
“Wait, you can’t let her—” Elyr starts, reaching toward us.
But then there’s a pulse of mana, and suddenly, we’re no longer in the office.
The Headmaster continues speaking, his voice reaching us from his office through some application of magic not too dissimilar from the Bephis Guildmaster’s.
“Grab your schedules from the front desk before you leave and review them carefully. Pick your electives and turn them in tomorrow. Classes officially begin on the first of Drayan at second bell. Don’t be late.”
“Second?!” I blurt.
Both Bella and Cari eye me curiously, immediately drawing me from the dreadful thought that is a future of countless early mornings.
They both wear expectant looks, and I instantly know that I’ll need to explain what I’d learned of the Empire to them once we return to our dorms.
Thankfully, the owlkin receptionist picks that moment to glance up from her mountain of papers.
“On your way out, then?” she asks casually.
The next ten days pass faster than expected.
Not because they’re particularly peaceful, but because Elderwynd seems to wake up.
Students flood the Academy in droves. Platforms that once felt spacious become crowded enough that Cari starts muttering about implementing new traffic regulations.
It sends a shiver down my spine, because I could actually see her going well and truly out of her way to climb whatever career ladder she needs to in order to do just that.
Entire towers light up overnight as dormant enchantments flare back to life, and every district descends into some new flavor of organized chaos.
The administrative district suffers the worst of it.
By the third day, I watch three professors nearly come to blows over classroom assignments—something about needing more space than their counterpart, I think—before the Headmistress appears seemingly from nowhere before verbally flaying them alive.
I quietly decide then and there to never anger the Headmistress if I can help it.
On the fourth day, Headmaster Kophis informs me that he managed to get the auction delayed.
He doesn’t mention how, though. Only that he did.
Given the fact that the Headmistress mutters something about “three centuries of blackmail finally proving useful,” I decide not to ask questions.
Regardless, the result is that the Archivist postpones the auction until the start of next year.
So... three months.
Three more months before my name is traded away for gods only know what.
Before the powers that be start sniffing around Elderwynd looking for me.
Still, life refuses to stop moving.
Classes are arranged, floating islands are shifted about and organized, and students begin forming parties, rivalries, clubs, and what Cari dramatically refers to as “socially weaponized friend groups.”
I find any excuse I can to spend more time with Bella as classes approach.
At first, it’s practical.
Schedule comparisons.
Planning routes between buildings.
Study sessions.
Then somehow that gradually turns into shared meals, late-night conversations, and Bella quietly going out of her way to occupy one of the living room couches while reading.
Not that I mind.
At some point, I realize I’ve started instinctively sitting beside her whenever she does, cracking open books of my own.
Closer than necessary, too.
A fact Cari notices immediately, and quietly teases me about in moments of privacy.
She never says anything outright when Bella is around, but the smug little looks she sends my way whenever my tail brushes Bella’s side are becoming increasingly unbearable.
Unfortunately for Bella, I’ve also started teasing her on purpose more often.
Not relentlessly or anything.
Just enough to watch that perfect composure crack—an act that has very, very quickly become one of my favorite activities.
Sometimes, it’s just a quiet “Careful, Princess” when she leans too close while helping me sort through notes.
Or a smug little grin whenever her ears turn pink after I compliment one of her dresses.
Once, while she was focused entirely on a book, I rested my chin on her shoulder just to see what would happen.
She nearly dropped the thing.
I felt a little bad about that one afterward.
Then, surprisingly, Bella started retaliating.
Usually in subtle ways.
Sometimes, she brushes past me just a little too close while moving through the kitchen, her arm whispering against my own as though there suddenly isn’t enough space.
Once, while looking over schedules together, she leaned over my shoulder to point something out and stayed there long enough that I could feel the warmth of her against my side even after she left the room.
Another time, she reached over without a word and tugged a leaf from my hair after one of my walks through the gardens, her fingers lingering just long enough to make my ears twitch.
Small enough things that I can almost convince myself she’s being innocent.
But... enough that the butterflies in my stomach immediately begin rioting every single time.
Once, when we were both completely invested in our own reading, my tail somehow ended up settled in her lap. She brushed it for nearly thirty minutes without noticing, and it took everything I had not to catch fire.
Then one of the school maid teams knocked on the door to do a routine cleaning, jolting us both from our... distractions.
The moment Bella realized what she’d been doing, she all but fled the room, leaving me to answer the door and let them in.
But that was fine.
I needed a bit of time to settle down anyways.
Two days before classes officially begin, our finalized schedules finally arrive. Thus far, we’d been working off of what we already knew from the general classes that were laid out without our selected electives.
Cari tears into hers immediately.
Bella reviews hers with calm efficiency, pointedly ignoring my tail as I plop it into her lap on the couch.
I stare at mine for nearly a full minute before deciding the Academy might actually be trying to kill me.
Now, we see just how screwed we are.
Or at least, how screwed I am.
———————————————————————————
Weekly Class Schedule and Times
Name: Emilia KenTier: One Year: First
Notice - Check your Student ID for time-telling if you do not own a time-telling device of some kind. You are responsible for arriving to class on time.
Mandatory Classes are labeled with (M).
Moonday
(M) Monster Identification06:00 - 07:30
Advanced Regeneration Studies08:00 - 10:00
Anatomy of Magical Species (Practical)12:30 - 15:00
Applied Healing (Practical)15:30 - 17:30
Emberday
(M) Dungeon Ecology06:00 - 07:30
Survival Logistics08:00 - 09:30
(M) Mana Theory (Practical)12:00 - 14:00
Weave Theory14:30 - 16:30
Windsday
Party Coordination Basics06:00 - 07:30
Wilderness Survival (Practical)08:00 - 11:00
Monster Fighting (Practical)13:00 - 15:00
Extra-Dimensional Studies15:30 - 18:00
Goldday
None.
Bladeday
(M) Attack & Defense Skill Training (Practical)06:00 - 08:00
(M) Controlled Sparring (Practical)08:30 - 10:30
(M) Stat Synergy and Optimization12:30 - 14:00
(M) Combat Communication (Practical)14:30 - 16:00
(M) Team-Based Combat (Practical)16:30 - 18:30
Starday
Introductory Rune Studies07:00 - 08:30
General Skill Planning & Development09:00 - 11:00
Precision Mana Manipulation (Practical)12:30 - 14:00
Extreme Threat Engagement (Practical)14:30 - 16:30
———————————————————————————
I stare at it with growing disbelief.
Then I read it again.
Then a third time, just to make sure the Headmaster hadn’t accidentally assigned me to some kind of experimental punishment program.
“Why,” I ask slowly, “do I only have one day off?”
Cari looks up from her own schedule immediately.
“Oh, you too?” she asks, seemingly unbothered. “What day?”
“Just Goldday,” I moan. “Why couldn’t it be Starday and Moonday?”
Bella finally lowers hers as well, one too-perfect brow arching ever so slightly.
“You selected your electives yourself,” she reminds me.
“That doesn’t mean the Academy had to approve them all,” I grumble.
Cari scoots closer, trying to peek at my schedule while I instinctively pull it away from her.
“Extreme Threat Engagement?” she reads aloud anyway, scandalized. “Emilia!”
“What? It sounds fun.”
“It sounds fatal,” she says.
Bella makes a quiet noise suspiciously close to agreement.
I ignore both of them and continue scanning downward.
“Well, at least we have the day off together,” Cari says, showing me her schedule.
Much like mine, she has Goldday off.
“As do I,” Bella says, flashing hers at us as well.
Suspiciously, she hides her Starday schedule.
I don’t pry though.
I’ll just have to find out the way of my ancestors: sleuthing.
Then I pause.
“...Wait.”
Cari blinks. “What?”
“So we all have the day off together.”
Bella glances down at her own schedule.
Then, surprisingly, her expression softens slightly.
“So we do.”
Cari sighs dramatically. “A guaranteed recovery day. Thank the gods.”
“You mean a study day,” Bella corrects immediately.
Cari points at her accusingly. “That attitude is both terrifying and disgusting.”
Bella doesn’t even look offended.
“Only if you’re lazy,” she says, nose upturned.
I snort loudly enough that Bella finally cracks, the corner of her mouth twitching upward despite herself.
Personally, I plan on trying to get some extra training in on those days, if I can convince myself to get out of these horrendously comfortable beds.
My thoughts are derailed when delicate fingers run through my tail fur.
Bella stares at her schedule, doing her best to seem completely absorbed in the task of analyzing it, but I can see a very clear blush blooming on her cheeks as she combs my fur.
This time, it’s my turn to pretend not to notice, despite the heat flooding my face.
Gods, she doesn’t play fair sometimes.
Of course, I’m forced to elbow Cari when she gives me her smuggest grin yet.
Eventually, the day classes start finally arrives, and...
“Emilia.”
It’s hell.
I groan into my pillow.
“Emilia.”
“Noooo.”
It’s too early. My bed is too comfy. The blankets are too warm. My body is too heavy. Outside is too dark.
There’s a pause. A moment of warmth, peace, and bliss.
Then my blanket vanishes.
Cold air slams into me like a physical attack, and I curl instinctively into the mattress with a horrified noise.
“Monster,” I mumble.
“Correct,” Bella says calmly. “Now get up.”
I crack one eye open just enough to glare at the clock freshly mounted on the wall—due entirely to Cari's persistent nagging.
05:23.
My soul leaves my body.
“No civilized society should function at this hour,” I declare weakly, face still buried in the mattress. “Only demons. And bakers.”
Cari snorts from somewhere nearby.
“She’s been complaining for twenty minutes already,” she informs Bella cheerfully.
“Traitor."
Bella sighs softly, sounding amused.
“We have class in less than an hour.”
“Future Emilia problem."
“It is currently a present Emilia problem.”
“Cruel,” I whine.
“Mhm,” she hums, slowly dragging me from the bed by my arm.
“Heartless,” I whine louder.
“Yep,” she continues, utterly merciless.
“Tyrant!”
“Oh, hush. It’s not the end of the world."
Still, I’m eventually dragged upright and sent stumbling to the bathroom, tail puffed up in outrage.
By the time we finally leave the dorms, Elderwynd is already awake.
Somehow.
The floating platforms are packed so densely with students that I almost stop walking outright. I would have, too, if it weren’t for the half-dozen women behind us threatening to trample me.
Lines of women leaving the dorms stretch from the platforms nearly to the first dorm buildings themselves, flooding the space with students arrayed in half-organized chaos.
Mana hums through the air in thick currents as platforms dart overhead one after another, carrying exhausted first-years and utterly unconcerned upperclassmen toward destinations I can’t even begin to guess at.
Some students look excited.
Others terrified.
One girl standing near the edge of the platform ahead of us appears moments away from vomiting.
I clutch my schedule a little tighter as we step into line ourselves.
Then I glance out over the dark skies, toward the central spires of the Academy.
Toward the countless floating islands drifting between us and them.
Toward the professors already moving through the skies on platforms of their own.
And for the first time since arriving here, the reality of it actually settles in.
I’m going to school.
Gods, please have mercy.
Authors Note:
First, importantly - I tweaked Chapter 110 to have the Headmaster introducing the two, because I totally forgot to properly introduce them aside form Emilia’s recognition. Sorry!
***
Now I want to ramble a bit.
I’m excited for this part of the story, but I’ll admit I’m also a little nervous about it. There’s just… a lot of moving parts all of a sudden.
I ended up building out most of Elderwynd’s class structure behind the scenes for this chapter, then making schedules for the girls, then repeatedly tweaking those schedules so they’d share some classes—but not all of them. Which also means different routines, different classmates, different interactions, different downtimes, and so on.
It was honestly kind of overwhelming to organize, but also really fun once it started coming together. Apparently I forgot to name the days of the week, too, so that was fun to work out how they tie into the lore.
I'm also really excited though, because I get to introduce some interesting new characters. I'm thinking... Maybe a dangerously friendly Catkin girl. Or the Wolfkin from the first time they entered the dorms. Both?
I dunno.
Anyways, thanks for reading <3 I know the Academy has been looming in the background for a while now, so it feels good to finally be here properly.